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Your source for local news, sports, weather and entertainment. www.thenownews.com
School district concerned over images
Jennifer McFee jmcfee@thenownews.com Editor’s note: The NOW has chosen not to provide a description of how to access the images described in this story, in order to prevent more children from seeing them. Parents who want more information are asked to contact School District 43 spokesperson Cheryl Quinton at CQuinton@sd43.bc.ca. Graphic pornography images flooded the computer screen when a Port Coquitlam mom Google searched for her son’s elementary school website. Jennifer Ratcliffe sat stunned at the computer surrounded by her
four children — aged five to 15 — when the pictures popped up. The images were not posted on a school district website. Rather, they were posted on an international website with a similar address. “What came up was hard-core porn. The images are just not acceptable. I came to the school and let them know about it. They were aware, so I phoned the superintendent. They’re aware about it and they’re trying to get the site down,” Ratcliffe told The NOW. “But I was not aware that this was the thing that’s going around with the children, little school-aged children. I would’ve liked to have been informed so that I could block it from their computer or at least talk to them about it beforehand.”
Ratcliffe said her 11-year-old son found out about the site two weeks ago from a friend at school when the pair of preteens stumbled across the images on a school computer. “My kids knew before me … They thought it would be a joke that I go to this site, so I went to the site and I was shocked,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it. I was embarrassed that I didn’t know anything about it. My children were laughing. I was shocked … I think it’s time for us to stop covering our heads in the sand and be aware. It’s too late for trying to keep it a secret. If kids know, then parents should know.” Brian Kuhn, School District 43’s information services manager, tried to get the site blocked by the prov-
incial learning network (PLN), a government-run provider of Internet service to schools and colleges across B.C. “They’ve been working on it and trying some things and so far have been unsuccessful in being able to block that site,” he said. Kuhn said the pornography site was created through a hosting company that allows anyone to make websites and post content. “The terms of use … verified they don’t allow explicit video, but they don’t disallow any other explicit material like images,” Kuhn said. “That’s the situation. Some person has created this site … He or she claims to be a sex addict and is dedicated to sharing all the porn in the world.”
Kuhn said he e-mailed the president of the hosting company to say that the pornographic website should not be allowed. “They say no explicit video. Well, they shouldn’t allow explicit image content either. I gave him examples of what’s happening to us because his company is allowing that guy to put material up and asking them to take it down and remove all traces,” he said. “I haven’t heard back yet, but we’ll probably be pursuing that through some other angles if we can. It’s international, so it’s tricky.” Kuhn also plans to contact Google and request that the pornography site be excluded from searches, since CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, see ‘A PARENT.’
Coquitlam OKs Como Lake plan John Kurucz
PEDAL POWER: Nick Pavlakis of the Pedalheads helps a student with bike skills during Glenayre Elementary’s second-annual cycling celebration. The event, a fundraiser for The Ride to Conquer Cancer, included a mini-bike rodeo course, healthy snack station and representatives from local cycling organizations.
jkurucz@thenownews.com Coquitlam council voted unanimously to move ahead with plans for a phased approach to significantly reduce the number of Canada geese at Como Lake Park. Monday’s vote came in response to an ever-growing population of geese at the park in recent years, a phenomenon that saw close to 200 geese calling the site home in July 2010. The management strategy council endorsed includes a number of options: increased signage, more public education materials, planting various types of low-growing vegetation along the shoreline and a move to relocate the geese to a provincial wildlife management area. “As long as the site is still attractive, that is the geese can land on the open grass area and get into water, we will have recurring problems.
Jason Lang/NOW
CONT. ON PAGE 4, see GEESE.
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